Basic Eggless Cake

The d day finally arrived exactly 2 weeks ago and I’m happy to announce the arrival of our son. To say life is hectic is an understatement and I’m getting used to the schedules of my newborn with oodles of help from my mother. Motherhood has its own unique share of joys, happiness, anxiety, trials and tribulations and I’m experiencing every bit of it. Life has suddenly changed forever.

This cake was one of the few things I made just a few days before the birth of our son. It is a very versatile cake. You could serve it plain, sprinkle it with icing sugar, bake it in cups to make cupcakes or bake it in a round tin to make wedges or square tin to make squares, slice it in the centre and sandwich with your favourite jams, the possibilities are endless. It can go from being a simple everyday cake to a star attraction on the table with a little bit of imagination. The reasons for eggless baking maybe many, health, allergies, religious or any other, this is quite a useful recipe to know.

I must also mention that divinetaste and my recipe for komola kheer have been featured on Kurma’s blog. Kurma das, known as the vegetarian guru of Australia is a prolific cookery author and a great chef. I feel truly honoured by his gesture.

Basic Eggless Cake Recipe

My favourite way to make this cake is to slice it in equal halves, sandwich with apricot jam* and dredge with icing sugar on top.

Method:

Grease and line the bottom of an 8” square or 9” round cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper.

In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform.

Preheat the oven to 150 C.

Put in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla extract and water into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients. Beat with an electric hand mixer, whisk or spoon or in a stand mixer until the mixture comes together and there are no lumps. This should take 3 to 4 minutes with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as this could result into a hard cake. Stir in 2 tbsp hot water and beat for a minute more. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or till done.
The cake is done when a knife or cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake. Invert the cake on a cooling rack, cool and use as required.

* If using jam to sandwich the cake, beat the jam in a bowl with a spoon to soften it and make it spreadable.

P.S. Since this is an eggless cake, you might find the batter on the looser side, but it comes out alright, soft and spongy out of the oven.

Hi Mihir,
This is a dahlia flower, that I shot in Srilanka. I love to include flower and nature pictures in my posts. Here, if you read the post and put the cursor on the picture you will understand that it is related to the birth of your nephew.

Hi Anu..
First of all congratulations on your baby boy! must be a bundle of joy!! nice post.. and a great way to include ur baby in it ( new life). Also aunty told me that kurma das has mentioned you in his blog..thats quite something! Wishing you all the very best in all your future endeavours… keep cooking!

The cake looks great. I have been looking for eggless recipes for ages and do hope this is it. Just a query. offlate I have started baking cakes wth oil totally doing away with the butter. do you think that is possible in this recipe?

Veena: I have not tried substituting this recipe with oil. But there are other recipes of cakes on divinetaste with oil. In my opinion, butter would taste best here, oil would make the cake more dense and alter the texture of the sponge. Let me know if you do decide to use oil instead of butter in this recipe.

[…] of cuisines. The eggless almond cake featured today [adapted from Anushruti’s wonderful blog, Divine Taste – Feed Your Body, Mind and Soul] has a hint of the delicate almond flavour that make you reach for more. I guiltily admit that I […]

Anuradha: Thanks. I’m happy you enjoy my cakes. I use a traditional convection oven or what you call the oven toaster grill in India. Set your oven to “bake” mode when baking in an OTG. I have the largest capacity Bajaj model and my new acquisition is my Siemens convection oven http://www.siemens.com/entry/in/en/.

I have to tell you this basic eggless cake recipe plays a very important role for me in making my loved ones happy. This year i celebrated each of my near n dear ones birthdays with variations of this basic recipe and modifying it to make cakes of different flavors and frostings. I must thank you for this.
Being a vegetarian and finding the perfect eggless cake recipe was not easy, and I was so glad when i found this. I’ve tried almost all the cakes featured on your site. The chocolate cake too is a bag hit with my friends.
I also have a query : Is it possible to make the super-spongy sponge cake we get in bakeries without use of eggs? If this same recipe can me modified to make it a sponge cake can you give me some suggestions?
Thanks, Gauri.

Gauri: Cakes always make people feel special and homemade ones are a great way to celebrate any occasion. This one is a true winner with my folks too and I’m happy you like it.

As far as your query for sponge cake goes, have you tried the vanilla cake featured here? I have given the recipe and trained folks selling eggless cakes in a bakery in Bangalore with a similar recipe, omitting the yogurt and increasing the milk.

I’ve tried the vanilla cake featured, but will try it with the variation soon. I’ve tried making this same basic eggless cake with more milk to make the batter on the looser side so it comes more spongy, but I’ve noticed the cake turned soft, but not like sponge.

Just tried your recipe just for the heck of trying an egg-less cake and boy did it taste as good as the regular cakes:). I served it by sprinkling icing sugar on top. Moist and fluffy and pretty looking cake, and yum tasting..thanks for sharing the recipe

Hi,
For some time now I have been following your recipes here. I am a vegetarian and am always looking for egg-less baking. I have a few egg-less cake recipes and they come out well. I tried your Basic Egg-less Cake Recipe and it came out perfect. Soft and spongy. everyone who ate it could not believe it was egg-less. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. Next I am going to try the Mango cheese cake. Unfortunately the mango season is over now but I have some pulp in the freezer of our home grown organic mangoes and use that to make the cheese cake.
Congratulations on being mentioned by Kurma Dasa. I just love his recipes and have one of his books.

Hi Anushruti-I am an ardent fan of all your recipes, the pictures and the manner in which you post the recipes. I was wanting to know if I can bake this cake using a microwave, coz I dont really have an OTG. The microwave is one with the convection function, let me know if I can try it. Thanks

Ashwini: Thanks for writing in. I’m afraid I cant give you directions for microwave cooking, since I dont cook with it. I’m actually against the use of one and the one I received as a wedding gift is lying packed and unused. I’m sorry I cant help you with this. Please do consider buying an OTG, atleast a small one to start with.

Hi Anu,
I tried posting last week, but for some reason it didn’t go thru. I just wanted to thank you so much for this recipe. I recently made this eggless cake and tweaked it, but your measurements really helped me out. You have a wonderful blog here.. i really enjoy it.

I’m very excited to make this cake. My daughter turns 1 tomorrow and she is allergic to eggs. I have been searching for an eggless cake recipe that sounded as if it would taste good. Very happy to have found your site. Thank you!

Hi,am so glad to find your blog.I love baking and I was so excited to see ur eggless version of cakes and cookies.I have baked before Sanjeev kapoors eggless cake but ur proportion was different so thought of trying it :).I used 1/4 th portion butter and the rest oil.but my batter wasn’t on looser side though I used 175 ml low fat milk.it took 45 minutes to bake. The cake was beautiful and tasted great.but i had a problem,the cake wasn’t in spongy texture evenly.could you please tell me what went wrong? How do I send you the photo so that you will know what I meant Eagerly waiting to hear from you:)

HI anu,
I am a “long time ” fan but a first timer for putting in my comment. Just wanted to say … that i have tried most of the cake recipes from your blog and they have all turned out well… and well complemented by those who tried it
Have recommended your website to many of my friends and family members..
Tried the simple cake above ( without the jam ) just plain … it was gone within minutes thank you . Hope to see more of your wonderful entrees

[…] Originally Posted by Yogesh Sarkar …. But the real problem was the fact that there was just way too much butter and sugar, and that I felt was primarily responsible for the screw up. … Indeed, you used far more butter than needed? And condensed milk has way too much sugar for the cake to need any more. Where did you get this recipe from? Google never lets you down. e.g. Basic Eggless Cake Divine Taste […]

Just felt like thanking you for this wonderful eggless cake recipe. I have been on the search for a good eggless cake recipe and I must say I was very lucky to get this. It turned out very well. I had baked this to celebrate Diwali with a set of under priviliged children, everyone liked it and it was enjoyed thoroughly. I made just one variation to your recipe, though I am not sure if it made any great difference. Thanks for putting up this wonderful recipe.

I bake for a living and was looking for a workable cake recipe for a client who has allergies to eggs, nuts and citrus…Judging by the picture, it leaves me a little wary of wanting to try this…

I’m sorry when I say that right from the first picture, thing looks like a BRICK! And it doesn’t help the appearance when you dressed it up in the following pictures, it just makes it look like a DRY TOAST sandwich with jam and sugar lol. Maybe that’s passable for household use, but if I tried passing that off at work, I’d be strung up! It may taste good, but if it’s not fit for presentation, it’s not going to matter to customers…or the waiters whom I rely on to sell it, they’re always going to sell things that make THEM look good. I can tell that if I made that as suggested by the photos, it wouldn’t move and I’d get in trouble for making a dud lol. I don’t know what you butt-kissers see in it, calling it “mouthwatering” and “yummy”? I guess they’re fans of dry toast sandwiches lol

LadySparta: Its very obvious that you have concealed your real identity by hiding under a fictitious name and are not bold enough to come out with your real self! And, who loves cowards? If what you said was constructive criticism, I would welcome it. But you have not just tried to insult my creative endeavours but also all the genuine visitors and people who have tried and tested this recipe.

Instead of wasting your valuable time here if you dont care about it, why dont you go in search of something that suits your pursuits and help you make a better living?

Your comment has brought out so many aspects of you: you do not respect creativity, you don’t know what you’re looking for (this is not a ‘let’s sell cakes’ blog), you don’t have enough decency to respect people, and you are flaming and disrupting harmony on an otherwise wonderful site.

It is only tribute to Anushruti’s decency that she did not retaliate in kind.

Priya: You can pre heat for 5 to 10 minutes…until the oven is hot enough! Since you are having many problems with your cake, it could be your oven. Or maybe you are not measuring the ingredients properly? My cake with condensed milk does not turn sticky…I don’t use soda to make eggless cakes so I can’t really say!

Hi there, i just wanted to say this recipe is AMAZING!!!! goes doen well with everyone who tries it. i have made variations, like adding coconut to the batter, and then sandwiching it with rasberry jam and vanilla buttercream.

Hi Anu,
I am a first time baker and decided to start with this recipe. Although the end result was tasty, I found that my cake was a little sticky and had not risen too well (though it was not hard). Could it have been the temperature in the oven? My OTG manufacturer recommends that I always preheat the oven to 200 degrees for 10 minutes before use for best results. I followed the recipe and preheated at 120 degrees and followed the rest of the recipe. Kindly let me know what could have gone wrong and if I should preheat to 200 degrees or 120 degrees.
Thanks, Niki

Hello mam,
I am so happy that i found your website since i love eggless baking.As i am from a middle class family so we don’t have a oven but since i am so interested in baking so i am planning to buy an OTG so can you suggest me that what should be the capacity(ltrs.) of the oven and the max. temperature range to try all your recipes.

Niki: Don’t pre heat your oven to 200 C. You can go upto 150C max. But it seems like there was nothing wrong with the temperature. If you use more liquid or sugar than that stated in the recipe also you will find the cake a little sticky. Make sure you measure your ingredients well before you make this again.

Genelia: Nice to hear from you! It is better to go for the largest capacity in the OTG as you can bake a considerable amount at the same time. Besides it will take in cake tins upto 10″ or a little more than that. All the best!

Hi Anu,
I made this and liked it a lot.. However, I have a basic question on baking cakes. The cake came out soft and spongy in the inside. It looked just like yours in the picture with pores in it. But the outer crust of my cake came out little hard. Especially the surfaces in contact with the baking pan came out hard and were much more brownish (like an over-baked color). The top most surface was not that hard. I just cut the outer crust with a knife and enjoyed the inner cake.. What do you think the reason for this is? This has happened to me many times.. Please help. Thanks.

Hi Anushruti,
I made this cake yesterday and it tastes & looks yummmy.Hubby Dearest & my son just loved it! Thanks for this recipe!It looked plain so just to enhance it a bit I made choc icing and decorated it .But overall,a big hit in my home!

Hi Anushruti,
Thanks for a wonderful site. I tried baking this cake and it turned out pretty well.Have you tried baking a larger version of this? How do I adjust the oven times/temperature and quantity of the ingredients, if I want to make a 9×11 or a 11×13 cake, instead of the 8″ or 9″ that you used for this recipe?

I am familiar with the recipe provided and I find that the condensed milk and butter makes the cake delicious, but very heavy. A few years back, I came across this recipe and it makes delicious chocolate cake which is not heavy and quite delicious:

Mix all the wet ingredients. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients leaving out the vinegar until the final step.

Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring together in pan until well combined (do not beat or over mix just stir / fold to combine – it is ok if the batter is slightly lumpy). Stir in the vinegar rapidly and immediately place pan into preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 min.

Optional: You can stir in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips just before baking to make a richer cake with melted chocolate bits or swirls.

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Hi,
I by chance came upon your website while surfing and my oh my am I impressed. Because we are vegetarian..love your recipes for eggless bakes.
I want to start with the basic cake recipe. Is there anyway to substitute the condensed milk.
Also can i bake this in a microwave. I have a convection model.
Thank you very much. Waiting eagerly for your response.
Sheela

Dhwani: Make the vanilla cupcake without the buttercream if you wish. They are equally delicious. It is one of the simplest recipes without any fancy ingredients. That said try these cupcakes without the blueberries..one of the best from my kitchen! http://www.divinetaste.com/archives/eggless-blueberry-muffins/

Sheela: Condensed milk is an intrinsic part of this recipe but if you want a cake without condensed milk then look in the cakes and cookies section, you will find many cakes without condensed milk. I don’t use or recommend baking or cooking in a microwave oven. Sorry!

Megha: Plain flour is maida. For every 100 gm of maida use 1 tsp of baking powder and 1/8th tsp baking soda and you have your own self raising flour.

Made it today and it’s so simple. The minimal ingredients and the simple recipe is what made me get up and bake this one. And not to mention the temperature, time, everything mentioned in your recipe is perrrrrrfect.

I added a few fresh strawberries and blueberries ( just because I wanted to finish them), and choco chips.

Anushruti, your blog has some of the most reliable recipes ever. Good luck to you and please keep posting such simple yet delicious recipes.

Hi! I tried your recipe after reading the great reviews but i was dissapointed! The cake was dense at the bottom and it was a caramel colour as opposed to a yellowy colour. Too much raising agent in the recipe perhaps?? Who knows!

Jess- I’m sorry that this recipe didnt work for you, but this happens to be one of my best basic cake recipes. If your cake was dense at the bottom and a caramel colour it is possible that the temperature of your oven was not right. Did you bake in the middle rack? Did you measure and mix the ingredients as stated? I can assure you that if the recipe is followed to the T, there are little chances for this to go wrong.

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Welcome To DivineTaste!

I'm Anushruti RK, a recipe developer, food writer and photographer based in Mumbai, specializing in pure vegetarian and sattvik recipes. DivineTaste.com catalogues my quest for simple and exotic pleasures in food that lead to tremendous overall well being with simple healthful recipes, at times elaborate with occasional indulgences! Read more...